Weekend B.O. July 3-5 (Abs Vs. Arnie)

Weekend B.O. July 3-5 (Abs Vs. Arnie)

The big
question this weekend, I would think, is whether anyone on the planet was
asking for another “Terminator” movie? Seriously. Talk about tired retreads. The last “Terminator” film, 2009’s “Terminator Salvation” was pretty much derided, though it
has its supporters, and was thought to be the final nail in the coffin for the franchise.

Besides, nothing can top “Terminator 2,” one of the greatest action/sci-fi films ever
made; though “Terminator 3: The Rise of the Machines” is pretty good, and still
rather underrated, with some genuine knockout action sequences.

But “Salvation” grossed $371 million worldwide, which meant that it wasn’t really that much of abox office hit to justify a total “rebooting” of the original film. Are things
so desperate now in Hollywood? Is the lack of imaginations so pitiful? But they
went ahead and did it with “Terminator Genisys” (why the fancy spelling?), and not
surprisingly it underperformed.

The awful
reviews that the film got, and the general lack of interest, has earned the film $44 million
since Weds.

Now that may
sound pretty good, but, with a budget of reportedly of $190 million, and the, no doubt, negative word of mouth that is sure to come, the film is well on its way to joining “Blackhat” and “Tomorrowland” as one of the biggest b.o. bombs of the year. Even if
it does well overseas, it’s doubtful that film will be successful enough to just break even.

Meanwhile,
as I predicted last week, the male stripper film, “Magic Mike XXL,” got hordes of women
(and gay men – let’s be realistic here) to the theaters to make it a hit this holiday weekend.

Made for a
very modest $15 million, which is twice the budget that the first “Magic
Mike” film was made for, “XXL” got terrible reviews, but that wasn’t going to stop
it from making $26.6 million since Weds. With the film’s low budget, and overseas
revenue, it’s bound to make a nice profit for Warners.

But, once again, it was “Jurassic World” vs. “Inside Out” for this weekend’s box office title, with “Jurassic,” for the fourth straight week in a row, taking the no. 1 slot, with $43
million, and “Inside Out” coming in at no. 2, with $30 million.

“Ted 2,” however, dropped big time, some 67% from last weekend, meaning that it won’t even come
close to grossing what the first “Ted” film made, and definitely won’t even crack the $100
million mark.